1.  Choose an Adoption Service Provider  

The first step in adopting a child from Ethiopia is usually to select a licensed agency in the United States that can help with your adoption.  Adoption service providers must be licensed by the U.S. state in which they operate.   Learn more about choosing the right adoption service provider.

Intercountry adoptions from Ethiopia are handled by the Adoption Team in the Children and Youth Affairs Office (CYAO), a part of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MOWA).  There are currently more than 20 U.S.-based adoption agencies authorized by the Ethiopian Government to provide adoption services for American adoptive parents.  For a current list, contact MOWA (see Contacts below) or the Ethiopian Embassy in Washington, D.C. at http://www.ethiopianembassy.org/other/adopting_an_ethiopian_child.shtml.

 

2.  Apply to be Found Eligible to Adopt  

To bring an adopted child from Ethiopia to the United States, you must apply to be found eligible to adopt (Form I-600A) by the U.S. Government, Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).  Learn how. 

In addition to meeting the U.S. requirements for adoptive parents, you need to meet the requirements of Ethiopia as described in the “WHO” tab. 

Before they can be matched with a child, prospective adoptive parents must first take or send all of the required documents (see below), certified and authenticated, to the Ethiopian Embassy in Washington, D.C. for additional authentication.  Once it has completed its authentication, the Ethiopian Embassy returns the documents to the parents and the parents forward them to MOWA, Children and Youth Affairs Office, Adoption Team (CYAO).  You can find their address in the Contacts section of this information sheet.

MOWA reviews the documents for completeness and creates a dossier on the adoptive parent(s).  The Claims and Authentication Section of the Protocol Office at the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Addis Ababa authenticates the dossier and returns it to the Adoption Team in the Children and Youth Affairs Office (CYAO).  CYAO submits the dossier to the Adoption Committee for review and approval to adopt.  The adoption request is approved only if all Committee members are in agreement.

Note on private adoptions:  Parents who have received MOWA permission to adopt privately must come to Ethiopia to complete adoption requirements.  Only one parent has to appear, but, if married, must bring a power of attorney from the other parent.  If these parents plan to file the I-600 at the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa, they need to make sure that the parent who comes to finalize the adoption is an American citizen and that the I-600 has been signed by the non-traveling parent prior to the Embassy interview.

Note on relative adoptions:  Ethiopian-Americans who are adopting orphaned relatives do not have to come to Ethiopia to process their adoptions.  They can have a representative with a power of attorney represent them in court.  Married adoptive parents need to make sure that both parents have given the representative a power of attorney so that both parents' names appear on the adoption decree.

3.  Be Matched with a Child 

Upon approval of the Adoption Request by the Adoption Committee, a child is selected and referred to the prospective parents to adopt, according to the parents preferences for age and sex.  The child must have its own dossier at MOWA.  That dossier describes the child, the child’s history, how the child came to be an orphan, and who has legal guardianship of the child.  Each family must decide for itself whether or not it will be able to meet the needs of a particular child and provide a permanent family placement for the referred child.  Learn more about this critical decision.

The child must be eligible to be adopted according to Ethiopia’s requirements, as described in the “Who” tab.  The child must also meet the definition of an orphan under U.S. law.  Learn more.

At this time Ethiopian authorities publish in the local press a notice seeking any other claimants to the child, stating the child’s name and the name of the prospective adoptive parents.  The notice advises that any parties opposed to the adoption must appear at MOWA by a certain date and time.

Prospective adoptive parents have the option to either accept or refuse the referral.  Upon acceptance of the referral, a Contract of Adoption is signed by the child’s legal guardian and the adoptive parents or the agency representative.  The contract is taken to the Inland Revenue Administration office to be stamped.  A nominal fee is charged.

CYAO opens a file at the Federal First Instance Court to apply for an appointment date for an adoption hearing. The court date set for the hearing is often one to two months from the date of filing.

4.  Adopt the Child in Ethiopia

Note:  All Ethiopian adoptions are full and final and irrevocable under Ethiopian law. 

Adoption hearings take place before the Federal First Instance Court. The court date scheduled for an intercountry adoption could be one to two months from the date the CYAO files the adoption petition.

The prospective parents or their representative (usually their agency’s local representative) appear at the court hearing.  The Court sometimes makes a final decision quickly.  However, decisions are sometimes delayed for weeks.  The Court’s decision is made via a Court Decree.   Adoptive parents must obtain at least two originals of the Court Decree.  One will be retained by MOWA and one must be submitted to the U.S. Embassy at the time of the visa application.  The Embassy will return the Court Decree to the parents at the conclusion of the visa application process.

Note: the Federal First Instance Court customarily closes for all business for between 3 and 12 weeks between July and October each year.  This can result in significant delays.  The length and timing of the Court’s closure differs from year to year.

After completing a legal adoption in Ethiopian court, (or you have obtained legal custody of the child), there are a few more steps to take before you can apply for an Immigrant Visa to bring your child to the United States.   Specifically, you need to apply for several documents for your child before he or she can travel to the United States:

Birth Certificate
You will first need to apply for a new birth certificate for your child, so that you can later apply for an Ethiopian passport for him/her.  Your name will appear on the new birth certificate as the child’s parents.  Once the adoption is complete, MOWA prepares a request to the City of Addis Ababa for the issuance of a new birth certificate.  This is best facilitated if the request is hand-carried to the relevant office.

Ethiopian Passport

Your child is not yet a U.S. citizen yet, so he/she will need an Ethiopian Passport with which he/she will accompany you from Ethiopia to the United States.   MOWA prepares a request to the Office of Security, Immigration and Refugee Affairs for an Ethiopian passport for the child in his/her new name.  This request is best facilitated if it is hand-carried to the relevant office.

5.  Apply at the U.S. Embassy for the Child to be Found Eligible for Orphan Status and for the Immigrant Visa

 After you obtain a new birth certificate and passport for your child, you also need to apply for an Immigrant Visa for your child at the U. S. Embassy in Addis Ababa.  This immigrant visa allows your child to travel home with you. The U.S. Embassy needs both the child’s new birth certificate and new passport to complete the child's U.S. immigrant visa application process.

The Consular Section works closely with adoption agencies to make this process as quick and painless as possible for adoptive parents.  The child must be present at the Consular Section for the immigrant visa interview.

Prospective adoptive parents and their adoption service providers should also be aware that on March 23, 2009 the U.S. Embassy began implementing the Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC’s) 2007 Tuberculosis Technical Instructions (TB TIs) for screening and treating tuberculosis for all immigrant visa applicants, including adopted children. Children who are found to have active TB will be required to submit to six months of Directly Observed Therapy (DOT) provided at the clinic of IOM in Addis Ababa, or obtain a waiver from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), after review by the CDC, in order to travel to the U.S.  An addendum to this new procedure was implemented on October 1, 2009 for all children under 10 years of age.  You may obtain full information on the addendum by clicking on the following link: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dq/panel-2007-addendum-ti-tb.htm. For the vast majority of children, implementation of these new requirements will cause no significant delay in the processing of their cases.

Furthermore, children determined to have a Class A medical condition, such as HIV (as diagnosed by the Embassy’s designated panel physician), will be required to have an approved waiver from the DHS, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) before an immigrant visa can be issued. 

The Department of State reminds adoptive parents that consular officers are required by law to conduct an orphan investigation (I-604) to verify the child's orphan status prior to the issuance of an IR-3 or IR-4 immigrant visa.  Depending on the circumstances of a case, this investigation may take up to several months to complete. 

This occurs at the beginning of the interview.  Once the Form I-600 is approved, the parent applies for an immigrant visa (either IR-3 or IR-4) for the child.  Once the child’s Immigrant Visa is approved, the visa can generally be picked up at the U.S. Embassy two days later.  Learn how. 

6.  Bring Your Child Home

Exit Visa

For your child to depart Ethiopia, an exit visa is required.  Ethiopian Immigration will place an exit visa in the child’s Ethiopian passport. The fee for this visa is approximately USD 8. 

Visas for Other Countries             

If the child will transit Germany en route to the U.S., a German visa is required.  A German visa may be obtained by applying at the German Embassy in Addis Ababa.  If the child will transit the U.K. en route to the U.S., and disembarks, a U.S. visa will be required.  A visa to the U.K. may be obtained by applying at the British Embassy in Addis Ababa.

Child Citizenship Act

For adoptions finalized abroad:  The Child Citizenship Act of 2000 allows your new child to acquire U.S. citizenship automatically when he or she enters the United States on an IR-3 visa for the purpose of legal permanent residence.   

For adoptions finalized in the United States: The Child Citizenship Act of 2000 allows a child who enters on an IR-4 visa to acquire U.S. citizenship automatically when the court in the United States issues the final adoption decree. 

Note: If your child did not qualify to become a citizen upon entry to the United States, it is very important that you take the steps necessary so that your child does qualify as soon as possible.  Failure to obtain citizenship for your child can impact many areas of his/her life including family travel, eligibility for education and education grants, and voting.

 Learn more about the Child Citizenship Act.

TRAVELING ABROAD

AFTER ADOPTION

What does Ethiopia require of the adoptive parents after the adoption?

Pursuant to Ethiopian law, adoptive parents must submit post adoption reports at three months, six months, and one year.  After the first year, the reports must be filed yearly until the child turns 18.  This is a commitment that the adopting parents, home study agency, and adoption agency must sign when submitting documents for the adoption. 

Adoptive parents are strongly urge to comply with these requirements  and to complete all post-adoption reports in a timely manner.  Your adoption agency may be able to help you with this process.  Your cooperation will contribute to that country’s history of positive experiences with American adoptive parents and helps keep the intercountry adoptions viable in Ethiopia.


What resources are available to assist families after the adoption?

Many adoptive parents find it important to find support after the adoption.  Take advantage of all the resources available to your family -- whether it’s another adoptive family, a support group, an advocacy organization, or your religious or community services. 

Here are some good places to start your support group search:

• Adoption Services Support Groups for Adopting Persons
• North American Council on Adoptable Children

Note:  Inclusion of non-U.S. Government links does not imply endorsement of contents. 

CONTACT INFORMATION


U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia
American Embassy
Entoto Road
Addis Ababa
Tel: (251-11) 124-24-24
Fax: (251-11) 124-35-35
Email: consaddis@state.gov